collective representations are a vast cooperative effort that extends through space and time

repeated history

people categorize based on collective experience (religion)

Definition of religion

Difference between sacred/profane

Rituals and beliefs

Having a moral community

Sacred and Profane

Profane is the daily life

Sacred is set around prohibitions, rituals elevate the object, place, or group

Totemism

system of beliefs where humans are believed to have a special relationship with an object, animal or plant AKA a totem

Example Oski Bear for Berkeley student

the nature of religion as a social creation

Things are sacred when there is a moral consensus on their sacredness.

Religions are collective representations, i.e. they are system of ideas by which people represent their society and the world to themselves.

Two types of Rites

Negative and Positive

Negative rites

a mark to differentiate sacred from profane

Rites of prohibition / asceticism: abstinence, retreats, fasts

Purpose is to detach oneself from the profane world

mental and physical suffering to purify body/soul

Positive rites

Purpose is to affirm one’s relation with the realm of the sacred; usually in the form of celebration

Prepared by negative rites

Rites of consecration, sacrifice

Example: graduation, parades, funerals

social function of symbols and rites (Durkheim's functionalism)

Functionalism: refers to the idea that religion and social rights serve the function of increasing solidarity and affirming collective consciousness

Rites: (definition given in lecture)
Rituals definition

Rites: “rules of conduct relative to sacred things”

Rituals: organized around sacred objects as its focal point and organized into cultic practice, was the fundamental source of the “collective conscience” that provides individuals with meaning and binds them into a community